Hearing this, the shopkeeper sighed and said seriously, "I am a strong man. Gu Yue Island is now full of traps under the water. This group of strong men are also highly skilled in martial arts. The government does not know how many times they have organized operations to suppress bandits, but each time they ended in failure." .”
"In this case, this group of strong men should not be underestimated." Lu Zhizhang said.
The shopkeeper immediately nodded, "Yes, the government suppresses bandits every year, but the bandits become stronger and stronger every time they suppress the bandits. Moreover, every time the government fails to suppress the bandits, they can still retreat. However, where do we ordinary people escape?"
After listening to the shopkeeper's words, Lu Zhizhang smiled slightly and said, "Since the shopkeeper's life is so difficult, you can actually go to other places to survive. Wherever you can't open a rice shop, where can't you do business?"
Hearing Lu Zhizhang's words, the shopkeeper just whispered, "Young master is right, I think so too, but not only you and I think so, but also those strong men think so. They had already thought so when we wanted to leave." , they took my wife and children hostage and went to Guyue Island. I am old and only have one son. How could I be willing to let go of my son and go away to a foreign country."
After hearing what the shopkeeper said, Lu Zhizhang nodded.
"If so, it would be really difficult."
However, Officer Wu was secretly shocked when he heard their conversation.
He was indeed reckless just now.
Fortunately, Mr. Lu just told him to shut up. If he had revealed his true identity just now, the rice shop owner might not have revealed so much information.
Moreover, since his children were held hostage on Guyue Island, he would definitely be even more unwilling to cooperate with Mr. Lu.
Fortunately, Mr. Lu didn't say anything, he just calmly tricked out so many words from the other party.
When the rice shop owner saw that he had said so much and the guests stopped asking questions, he said to Lu Zhizhang, "Sir, do you think you can exchange this rice for other rice? We still have some rice here." There is a kind of rice produced in Jiangzhou that tastes very elastic and soft."
Seeing that the rice shop owner was trying his best to sell the rice, Lu Zhizhang, who was using it as an excuse to buy rice, just said to the boss, "Boss, I'm really sorry. It's not that I don't want to buy other rice from your family, but my old lady only eats it." Gotta get used to that pearly white corn.”
Upon hearing Lu Zhizhang's words, although the rice shop owner felt disappointed, he also expressed his understanding.
Lu Zhizhang then came out of the rice shop.
When Officer Wu saw Lu Zhizhang walking around the rice shop, he could only say to Lu Zhizhang, "Master Lu, what are we doing here again? Should we just forget about that group and not take them?"
Hearing Wu Chaguan's words, Lu Zhizhang just said calmly, "Of course not, but do you think the rice shop owner can tell them directly that we are from the government and ask him to cooperate with us? Think about it, you are a rice shop Boss, can you cooperate? Do you dare to cooperate?"
Lu Zhizhang's words left Wu Chaguan speechless.
"Then what should we do now?" Wu Chaguan asked helplessly.
Lu Zhizhang didn't say it clearly. He just said to Wu Chaguan, "It's too late to go to the Yamen to report in an hour. We have no other choice but to start with the rice shop owner."
"How to start?" Officer Wu continued to ask in a low voice.
Lu Zhizhang motioned for the other party to come closer to him, and then whispered in Wu Chaguan's ear for a while.
When Wu Chaiguan heard what Lu Zhizhang said, he naturally just nodded, "That's what Mr. Lu said."
Winter evenings always come very early, and the sky is dyed deep blue due to the darkness of night.
In the cold wind, on the river in Guyue Town, a small boat docked on the shore of Guyue Town like a quietly approaching ghost.
Then, a dozen strong and strong yellow-robed monks wearing cassocks jumped out of the boat.
They have thick eyebrows and big eyes, and they hold all kinds of weapons in their hands. They look fierce and powerful.
It was already getting dark at this time, and their arrival only made the people near Guyue Town feel even more frightened.
The residents of the town just hid one after another and did not dare to show their faces easily.
After the yellow-robed monks got off the boat, they went straight to several shops in the town. he
They move quickly and firmly, as if nothing can stop them.
They first took away a large number of weapons from Li Qian's house, and then they only took away a batch of needed supplies from several other shops.
Finally they arrived at the Mipu owner’s store.
They knocked hard on the wooden door of the rice shop owner.
Then the door of the rice shop was slowly opened from the inside, and the yellow-robed monks immediately filed in, and they disappeared into the darkness. Only a few disciples guarding the door were left, staring at the surroundings with vigilance.
In the night, Guyue Town became even quieter, with only the cold wind blowing the leaves, making a rustling sound.
When the rice shop owner saw these monks coming, he didn't dare to neglect them. He just smiled and said, "Seeing that you haven't come to visit for a long time, I thought you wouldn't come today, but I didn't expect you to come anyway."
The rice shop owner still wanted to joke, but the monks didn't even have the intention to joke with him. They just said expressionlessly, "Did any government lackeys come here today?"
The owner of the rice shop immediately waved his hand, "No, no. At least I have never seen anyone from the government come."
Hearing what the rice shop owner said, one of the leading monks said viciously, "It's best not to have any, otherwise I will kill your whole family."
When his words fell, the rice shop owner was frightened. He forced out a smile that was more embarrassing than crying: "Master, how dare I collude with people in the government? Am I going to die?"
The monk also knew that the rice shop owner was not intimidated, so he stopped threatening and just started talking about business, "By the way. I asked you to prepare twelve loads of pearly white corn and twenty loads of ordinary rice. How's it going?"
Facing the monk's question, the boss immediately whispered, "It has been done long ago. I will take the adults to take a look."
After saying this, the rice shop owner quickly lit an oil lamp, and then he led the monks in front to look into the warehouse.
Seeing that there was indeed enough food in the warehouse, the monk nodded with satisfaction.
The shopkeeper then immediately asked one of them, "Sir, you see I have prepared the food for you. Can you please let me see my son? I want to see how he is doing now." how's it going."
Hearing what the shopkeeper said, the monk nodded, and then they only asked their men to pull out the shopkeeper's son. The child was wearing simple clothes and was skinny. Although he was born like a snow dumpling, The child's eyes were full of panic and fear, and it seemed that he had not been treated well.
The child's appearance was completely different from that of his father. When he saw his child's appearance, the child's father felt heartbroken.
His poor child was really suffering there.
But suffering in that kind of place is nothing. At least now his children are still here intact and have not been killed.
"Zhong'er, my good son, come to daddy!" The shopkeeper carefully put down the lamp and called to his child.
However, the child was really cowardly. Even though he was shouted at so many times by the shopkeeper, he actually did not take any action at the moment.
Instead, the monk who grabbed him pushed him, and he dared to walk slowly to his father.
As soon as he saw his son and held his son in his arms, the shopkeeper felt that the child's thin bones began to hurt.
This is obviously because I didn't eat anything good on the island and I was starving.
The shopkeeper felt sorry for his son, and the father and son hugged him and cried bitterly. Or to be more precise, one of the shopkeepers was crying.
After holding the child and crying enough, the monks who had packed up the rice began to urge the shopkeeper to send the child back quickly.
The father and son had only met for a while, and they had not exchanged a word. Although it was just to confirm whether he was safe or not, the shopkeeper who met the father and son was not willing to let his son go like this. He could only say to the monks, "Masters." "You haven't had dinner yet, I have prepared some vegetarian food. If you don't mind, masters, please stay and have a meal."
His purpose of retaining this group of people is actually very simple. He wants his son to at least have a full meal, even if he doesn't eat that much.
In the past, at the begging of the rice shop owner, this group of monks would tacitly choose to stay.
However, something happened today. The monk faced the shopkeeper's plea and said, "We won't stay today. It's getting late and we have to leave."
After saying this, the monk took the child and went back. Naturally, the shopkeeper didn't want to let go just like that, so he could only beg the other party to let him see the child one more time.
However, the monks were obviously determined to leave, so when faced with the shopkeeper's request, they directly rejected the other party's proposal.
They caught the child and rushed to the ship.
The shopkeeper didn't dare to stop them and could only watch them take their son and walk away.
However, at this moment, the monks came out of the town archway and saw that under the night, there seemed to be a fire rising into the sky on the shore of Guyue Town.
When these dozen people saw this situation, they just said that the situation was not good.
After all, the fire started where they parked the boat.
The dozen or so people immediately left in a hurry.
When they arrived at the shore, they saw the withered yellow reeds on the shore rising into the sky together with the flames of their wooden boats.
Seeing this situation, a monk just said, "How could there be a fire? We didn't put any open fire on the boat."
Another monk said, "What else could be the reason? Someone must be setting fire to the boat!"
"Who is so impatient? How dare you burn our ship?"
While the group was making noise, the first monk who had been silent suddenly signaled all the monks to shut up.
Then he listened carefully and looked around.
On a cold winter night, there were no stars or moon. Although the fire only illuminated the entire sky, nothing could be seen deeper in the jungle.
There seemed to be something really hidden in the darkness, and the monks immediately put on a defensive posture.
